SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 4, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The University of Utah will join the Big 12 Conference amid a mass exodus from the once-proud Pac-12 in 2024.
Utah’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to accept the Big 12’s invitation to join the conference in an expansion that also includes Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado.
“I am very enthusiastic about the University of Utah’s future within the Big 12,” Utah President Taylor Randall said in a news release Friday evening. “Joining our Pac-12 and Association of American Universities peers from Colorado and Arizona is important to our mission and makes sense, as does renewing our historic in-state rivalry with Brigham Young University.”
Utah Director of Athletics Mark Harlan said university officials have been “fully engaged in pursuing the best possible path for the University of Utah and our athletics programs to excel.”
“After very thorough and comprehensive efforts to preserve our present conference affiliation in the aftermath of the announced departures of UCLA and USC last year, we have explored all options and have determined that the right path for Utah to continue to build on its tremendous growth trajectory is to accept an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference,” Harlan said.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark confirmed the expansion in a statement Friday evening.
“We are thrilled to welcome Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to the Big 12. The conference is gaining three premier institutions both academically and athletically, and the entire Big 12 looks forward to working alongside their presidents, athletic directors, student-athletes and administrators,” Yormark said.
ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel first reported the formal applications to the Big 12 from Utah, Arizona and Arizona State on Friday. The Utes and Sun Devils received and accepted invitations Friday, a day after the Wildcats did the same.
The moves to the Big 12 followed reports Friday that Oregon and Washington plan to join the Big Ten, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the Pac-12 and leaving remaining schools scrambling to either stay together or find new homes.
The Ducks’ and Huskies’ move to the Big Ten was made official Friday evening.
The latest defections follow the June 2022 announcement by Pac-12 heavyweights USC and UCLA to join the Big Ten and Colorado’s decision July 27 to return to the Big 12.
The Big 12’s expansion would push the conference’s membership to 16 and keep together the Pac-12’s “Four Corners” schools: Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State.
It also would reunite Utah with in-state rival BYU, which officially joined the conference on July 1.
“I’m grateful to Big 12 leadership for seeing this through,” BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe said. “The conference keeps getting stronger, and we are thankful to add more Big 12 rivals in closer proximity.”
The Utes and Cougars previously competed against each other as members of the Mountain West Conference (1999-2011) and Western Athletic Conference (1962-99). The Wildcats and Sun Devils also were members of the WAC from 1962-78.
“We are excited for this new chapter, a move that is necessary to remain competitive in top-tier Division 1 athletics,” ASU President Michael Crow said in a news release. “We are joining a premier athletic conference and bringing with us programs on the rise, our rich traditions and history, and the metro Phoenix media market. We’re in a good spot, and we are pleased to be with UArizona and Utah in the move.”
The conference future also is uncertain for remaining Pac-12 members Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State.
If the Pac-12 is disbanded following the 2023-24 athletic season, it would mark an unceremonious end to the conference with the most national championships (553) in the history of college athletics.
The Pac-12 began play in 1916 as the Pacific Coast Conference, with original members Oregon, Washington, Cal and Oregon State (then known as Oregon Agricultural College). Washington State joined in 1917.
WSU officials shared their disappointment in the planned departures in a statement Friday.
“While we had hoped that our membership would remain together, this outcome was always a possibility, and we have been working diligently to determine what is next for Washington State Athletics,” Washington State President Kirk Schulz and Director of Athletics Pat Chun said in a joint statement.
“We’ve prepared for numerous scenarios, including our current situation. With exceptional student-athletes, a strong Cougar tradition and incredible support from our fans, donors and alumni, we will chart the best path forward together.”
University officials at Cal and Stanford issued similar statements Friday night.
